1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cooling module for motor vehicles as well as a pair of adapters with a first adapter element and a second adapter element for holding cooling and frame components of a cooling module for motor vehicles, furthermore the invention also relates to a mounting method.
2. Description of the Background Art
Cooling modules in which several cooling functions are carried out by a plurality of cooling components, are known from DE 42 44 039 C2. It is disclosed there to arrange a cooling component in the form of an intake air cooler in a parallel manner in front of a cooling surface, flowed through by air, of a radiator unit. It is proposed in DE 42 44 039 C2 to reduce the construction depth of cooling modules of this type, in particular when an oil cooler is also provided.
A shroud for a cooling module of a motor vehicle is known from DE 10 2005 044 557 A1, which shroud is embodied as a carrier for cooling components in the form of a heat exchanger and a cooling fan. The shroud has support elements projecting laterally, with which a mounting of connections for the heat exchanger is considerably simplified.
Several drive concepts are known for motor vehicles. Drives by internal combustion engines are very widespread. Furthermore, battery operated electric vehicles as well as hybrid systems are known. In the case of hybrid systems, an can also be used in addition to the electric motor, which internal combustion engine is not directly used for the drive but for power generation, such as, in order to achieve larger distances. The cited drive concepts require cooling modules with different cooling components. A simple cooling module for a motor vehicle with a drive by an internal combustion engine requires a main radiator, i.e., a radiator unit flowed through by air and engine coolant as well as a fan module. Depending on the equipment of the motor vehicle, the cooling module can be expanded by further components, such as a condenser component, an intake air cooler, a low-temperature cooler and an oil cooler. In the case of a vehicle with electric drive, in contrast, a radiator unit flowed through by air and engine coolant can be omitted. Instead, a complex cooling for a battery block is necessary.
A cooling module that is flexibly adjustable for all drive concepts has not been hitherto known. Instead, the different components have to be individually assembled for each drive concept. Due to the individual assembly, so far it has been possible to carry out the module attachment and the stiffness of the module only by correspondingly adapted components. The individual adaptation of the module attachment for cooling modules for motor vehicles with different drive concepts leads to high development and storage costs, since a corresponding diversity of parts is necessary.